


Clover Holdem

by solarwitchwrites



Series: Keeping Score [13]
Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Knew Henry, Attraction, Denial, Light Angst, M/M, Poker, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:09:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21974119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solarwitchwrites/pseuds/solarwitchwrites
Summary: Yami says that Finral cheats at cards. Finral argues that Yami does. Vanessa and Henry know perfectly well that they both do, but it's too entertaining to stop. Magna is just out of his depth.(Set the night before Asta's exam.)
Relationships: Finral Roulacase/Yami Sukehiro
Series: Keeping Score [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1426735
Comments: 37
Kudos: 217





	1. Deal

**Author's Note:**

> I learned something while writing this fic: I fundamentally do not understand poker. While they're basically playing Texas Holdem, if there are any mistakes in the play or rules, just assume that Clover Holdem isn't quite the same...
> 
> Note on Henry: I hate how canon handled Henry, so in all of my fics, everyone has known about Henry since they moved in to base, and he’s more integrated with the squad. Tagged the AU in this one since he's got dialogue.

It was something of an unusual setup for a card game. The room was long and narrow, dominated by a bed at one end and a table ten feet away at the other. The poker chips all had holes punched through the center, and were ferried back and forth between the bed and the table as needed by magical threads so that the bed's occupant could bet. Cards were handled similarly.

The whole thing was a bit weird, and it didn't work at all on days when Henry wasn't feeling well enough to sit up. Not to mention his mana drain occasionally snapping Vanessa's threads. But Finral and Vanessa could manage the effects for a while so long as Yami was in the room getting the worst of it. And since cards were a common enough pastime for the three of them, they'd taught Henry.

Magna was a more recent addition. He'd sworn he'd avenge his absolutely horrific loss to Henry the night of the ball. Not that he'd made any progress in six months; the guy was way too open to master any kind of poker face.

As Yami handed the cards to Magna, Yami twitched and took another bite of the bowl of Charmy's chowder sitting at his other elbow. Finral glanced over to the left at him. Yami's mana didn't feel like he needed to tap out yet, but he was definitely feeling the proximity to Henry. Given that Yami was the most experienced player at the table, though, Finral considered it a bonus that the mana drain killed a chunk of his concentration. 

On Finral's right, Vanessa grinned as Magna shuffled. “It's lucky it's your deal, Magna. You won't have to start betting your clothes again until next round!” She looked pointedly at the three lonely chips sitting in front of him.

Bristling, Magna snapped, “Shut up! That was a one time thing!” Jabbing a finger in Henry's direction, he added accusingly, “You told me he was a new player!”

Vanessa giggled as Henry replied, “Compared... to them... I am.”

“Like that means anything! I'm gonna win next time!” Magna declared, shuffling the cards with quick, sharp movements. That part he was a natural at; like Finral, Magna's magic was largely controlled by precise finger motions. The rest...

Thoughtfully, Finral asked, “Has Magna won yet at all?” Magna sputtered, probably about to make another vow of future victory, but Yami chuckled.

“Nope,” he said, taking another bite of the chowder.

That took some of the wind out of Magna's sails; he settled for glaring around the table as he dealt the cards. The two he dealt to the empty place at his left were snatched by Vanessa's threads and dropped across the room in Henry's lap. One of the threads grabbed a red five point chip to take back to the table for the small blind.

As Vanessa set out two of her own red chips for the big blind, Finral glanced at his cards. Certainly not anything exciting; then again, Finral didn't rely on luck to win card games. He looked up to see Yami watching him.

Finral eyed Yami's smirk, eyes narrowing. Yami didn't rely on luck either. Finral sighed. “I can tell when you're cheating, you know...”

“Tch. I don't cheat.” Under the table and out of sight, Finral deliberately flexed his right leg. Yami's eyes flicked to the right. Finral pointed an accusing finger at him.

“See! Like that. Reading people's ki to tell if they're bluffing is absolutely cheating.” Because if he was noticing movements like that, Yami was definitely paying too much attention. Unfortunately, rather than looking remotely abashed at being caught out, Yami shrugged.

“So is your weird math thing. Who got kicked out of a gambling den for card counting?” 

“Wait, what?” Magna interjected. He looked like he couldn't decide if he was more startled that Finral had been in a gambling den for a reason other than being Yami's ride, or that he'd actually gotten into trouble. Despite himself, Finral went a bit pink. That had been _embarrassing_. Not that Yami knew the meaning of the word. Of course, Yami had conveniently left out the important part. 

“And whose fault was it I was there to begin with?”

“No idea,” Yami replied, voice matter-of-fact like he hadn't been the one who'd goaded Finral into sitting at the blackjack table. Finral opened his mouth to argue when Henry coughed. All four players at the table looked over at the bed.

“You... both... cheat,” Henry said. Vanessa smiled at him.

“See, Henry gets it.” Looking back at Finral- who wasn't going to forget this base betrayal of their friendship anytime soon- she grinned. “Place your bet already, Finral. Stalling isn't going to save you.”

“His... hand's... probably... awful.”

Yami laughed. “And Henry can't read ki. Your poker face just sucks, Finral. Gonna fold?”

Finral looked at his hand again.

Okay, so it was an awful hand. Yami was still cheating, and Magna, Henry and Vanessa were just letting him get away with it. Finral had terrible friends, honestly.

Still. Finral took another bite of his own chowder and hid a smile. There were worse things in the world than terrible friends you could lose to at poker. And maybe Magna would give him some respect after this. If Magna got kicked out a someplace like that, he'd probably brag about it.

“No, I'm going to call, because I know what the odds are,” he said, putting as much confidence into his voice as possible. Pushing forward a small pile of chips to match Vanessa's bet, he smiled at Yami like he'd already won.

_What Yami doesn't need to know are that the odds are awful._

Yami frowned, and glanced over at Vanessa, who was still grinning. He rolled his eyes.

“Pair of loons...” he muttered. “Call.”

From the bed, Henry said, “I'll... raise... because... I think...both... of you... have... bad... hands.”

Yami looked over at Henry with narrowed eyes, as if suspicious that he was using his powers to see anywhere in the base to cheat. Vanessa burst out laughing. “Call!” she said cheerfully, adding another couple of chips to her own bet as her threads added Henry's.

Finral glanced at his own pile of chips and decided he might as well go for it; they were only up to twenty points and Magna hadn't even dealt the flop yet. “Call,” he said.

Yami hesitated, still eyeing Finral like he knew what his hand was and was considering raising again just to push Finral out of the round. Which, rude. But he finally called. Magna burned a card and dealt the flop, and Finral hid a wince at the three revealed cards. Well. That took the odds from awful to nearly impossible. Joy.


	2. Bet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all will notice that the fic got retagged. That is because these losers refuse to follow a plan. So we're back out of Pre-Slash again.
> 
> The only one who listens to me is Magna, I swear.

A brief look around the table, predictably, revealed nothing. Henry wasn't very expressive in general, Yami could take anything with a straight face, and Vanessa had the habit of randomly smiling or pouting at a card, regardless of what it actually meant for her hand. She was currently pouting, which had slightly better odds of meaning she had a good hand; but Finral wasn't going to bet too heavily on a 57% chance.

...Finral conceded that Yami might have a point about the math thing. But Finral wasn't going to give it up until Yami stopped reading ki. Which was going to be the twenty-fourth of _never_ , so they could all live with it.

Henry, either because he had a good hand or because he enjoyed riling all of them up- Finral's guess was the latter- opened the betting by saying, “I'll... bet... fifty.” Vanessa's strings transferred the chips as she turned her pout towards the bed.

“Henry, you can't put a lady on the spot like that. What if I had a bad hand?”

“Then... fold,” Henry told her. “There... are... no... ladies... in... poker.” 

Magna snorted. “Since when are you a lady anyway?” Vanessa turned toward Magna with a smile, then leaned over the table towards him, putting her arm under her chest in a way that enhanced her cleavage. Magna choked. Finral could sympathize; it was one thing to get used to Vanessa's fashion sense in general, it was something else entirely when she made use of it.

“You were saying, virgin delinquent?” she asked sweetly. Finral, Yami, and Henry snickered as Magna went red. Vanessa winked, provoking one last twitch from Magna, before relaxing back into her seat. “Call. I'm feeling lucky!”

Finral sighed as all eyes went to him. This was not a hand worth betting that much on. “Fold,” he said, and ditched his hand in the burn pile. 

Yami smirked. “Out already, Finral? What happened to knowing the odds?” Finral scowled.

“Just because I know them doesn't make them good,” he muttered. “Bet already.”

Yami called, but he still looked smug. Probably for having already known that Finral had a bad hand. Ki reading was absolutely cheating, no matter what Yami said.

Magna tossed another card in the burn pile, then dealt the fourth. Finral mentally patted himself on the back for getting out when he did, especially when he say Yami's eyes narrow slightly at the card. Looked like somebody should do a little more calculating and a little less cheating. When Yami glanced his way, Finral just grinned back. _Not my problem any more._

“I'll... bet... seventy-five.” Henry said. Vanessa cackled as her strings flew to deliver the chips to the table.

“I'll raise. One hundred!” She was smiling like a cat with a bowl of cream- or a witch with a bottle of the good stuff- and practically bouncing in her seat. Either that card had made her hand, or she really wanted to psych out Yami. Or both. From the way Yami was eyeing her and the sly tilt to her eyes, Finral would put his money on both.

After a long moment, Yami made a noise of disgust and tossed his hand. “Fold.”

Finral sighed, feigning sympathy. “It's always good to know when to quit, right?” Idly, like it was just something to do with his hands, he re-stacked a few of his chips- five ten pointers, to be specific- and smiled when Yami caught the gesture and glared at him. _And that is the fifty points I have and you don't. Because you cheat._

“Don't brag about folding too early, ya wimp. At least Magna goes down swinging,” Yami retorted. 

Magna sat up a bit straighter at the acknowledgment. “A real knight never gives up!” he declared. Then he let out a startled 'oof' when Yami smacked the back of his head.

“Oi, don't say that when I just had to fold. A real knight sticks it out until they die, and then gets up again.”

“Yes Captain!” Magna replied, fist clenching in resolution.

Finral bit back a laugh. “Yami... how do you get back up again after you die...?” Magna, still internalizing the advice, didn't hear him; Yami rolled his eyes.

“Geez, don't take everything literally.”

Finral shrugged. “Eh... I've still got more chips than Magna, so... I'll keep to how I do things, I think.” He smiled at Yami, and re-stacked the fifty points again.

Yami made a 'tch' noise and took another bite of chowder. Finral decided to count that as a win. The hand was a loss, but it was always nice to get one over on Yami.

“I'll... call.” Henry said. His head turned in Vanessa's direction, he said, “Gonna... raise... again?”

Vanessa smirked and shook her head. “Nope, call. I wanna get my money sometime tonight, you know.”

Magna dropped one more card in the burn pile, then dealt the fifth.

Finral winced, thinking back to his discarded hand. Of course the one card that would have improved things got dealt after he'd folded. Story of his life. _When even math betrays you..._ When he snuck a glance at Yami, though, it was to see him glaring at the last card too. That made Finral feel exponentially better. _At least he lost out too. And I'm still fifty up on him._

“Two... hundred... this... time.”

Yami turned in his chair to look towards Henry. “I can never figure out if you bet like that because you're actually a reckless guy under all that, or if you just know you can outbid us because you own the fucking house.”

Despite the hair covering half of Henry's face, Finral could see the wide grin as Henry added, “And... also... all of... Magna's... stuff.”

“Hey! I'm gonna win it back!”

“But... until... you do... you're... just.... borrowing... everything.”

Vanessa laughed. “Poor Magna, doesn't even own the shirt on his back. Want a loan?” She rattled some of her chips with her threads. 

Finral leaned toward Magna, the picture of helpfulness. “You don't want to know what you'd wind up owing Vanessa, Magna. I've got better interest rates.”

Before Magna could reply, Yami, cut in. In the tones of one delivering sage advice, he said, “Beware of loan sharks with pretty faces.”

Finral twitched, and slowly looked to his left. Yami looked completely unruffled. Trying to mask anything else with annoyance, Finral asked, “Hey, Yami... just which one of us are you calling pretty, here...?”

Yami snorted. “Do I need to answer that?” He said it like the truth was so obvious there was no point. Vanessa blinked. Then she started laughing so hard she almost fell off her chair. Finral felt his face heat. _I walked right into that one, it's not like there's a contest between me and Vanessa..._

With several months' practice at this point, Finral ignored the small, stupid sting. Instead, he raised an eyebrow at Vanessa, who was still trying to get herself under control. “You know, if you want your money sometime tonight, you have to make a bet...”

Still giggling, Vanessa managed to say, “Call. Let's see what you've got, Henry.” A twitch of her fingers sent her threads flying again, bringing Henry's cards to the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback encouraged!


	3. Fold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I had to re-tag this thing again. Sorry folks! Trying to get the next one finished ahead of time so that this doesn't happen again.

Finral sighed when the cards were revealed. As Vanessa happily claimed the pot, Finral sent an annoyed look to the last card. _Geez, I'd have beat her if I'd stayed in. That's depressing._

“Damn, could have at least beaten Henry,” Yami muttered.

Perking up a bit- misery really did love company- Finral pointed out, “Only winner gets the pot, though.”

Yami scoffed. “It's the principle of the thing.” He shrugged, and glanced at Magna as Vanessa started shuffling for Henry's deal. “Guess we'll both have to settle for beating Magna.”

“You just watch! I'm gonna win this time!”

*

Finral was stumbling a little as he left Henry's room. It wasn't fair that Yami was still perfectly stable despite getting the worst of Henry's mana drain; the guy was something else. Vanessa wasn't quite as badly off, but she also spent a lot more time uncoordinated than Finral did. Even now, when she tossed off a cheery goodnight and sauntered away, Finral realized she was headed down to the common room for a drink instead of off to bed.

Finral shook his head, smiling. She'd never change.

Magna stalked off in the opposite direction, muttering about revenge. It was undermined by the fact that he couldn't walk straight. Muffling a laugh, Finral turned to head toward his own room and almost ran into Yami's chest. He jerked back, then tripped, fetching up against a wall.

“Don't do that!” Finral was going to blame the way his pulse was jumping on shock.

Yami looked down at him, unimpressed. “Do what, stand here? You walked into me.”

Deciding to ignore that, Finral asked, “Shouldn't you be heading to bed?”

Unfazed, Yami said, “Yup. So make with the portal already.”

Finral's eyes widened in incredulity. “Are you serious?! I haven't got enough mana to grab you a lighter. Walk for once!”

Abruptly Yami was looming right in his face. “Oi, you trying to imply something?”

“Nope!” Finral put up his hands appeasingly, but from the way Yami's eyes narrowed, he'd caught the lie. Good. Jerk should know he was a lazy bastard who refused to break a sweat for anything other than fighting. After a second, though, Yami turned his glare on the corridor. Finral blinked, finally registering the missing door. He sluggishly reached out with his senses. Oh. Yami's room wasn't where it had been this morning.

“Henry must have taken a nap today,” Finral commented.

Yami rolled his eyes. “No shit.”

All magical constructs vanished when their caster fell unconscious. But the base didn't. Somehow both a construct and possessed of its own reality, it didn't go poof when Henry slept. Otherwise the Bulls would be homeless half the time. However, rooms and walls tended to drift around when Henry was asleep. Something about the interactions of his subconscious. 

Conveniently, Henry's magic could move more than stone. Through mechanisms Finral still didn't understand (had to be some form of spatial field magic, right?), Finral's markers moved with the rooms. Which was good, because if they'd just stayed in the same coordinates when everything altered around them, Finral would have long since portalled into a wall.

Not that Finral was up to portalling anywhere right now. Sighing, Finral pinpointed Yami's room marker in his mental map of the world, and pointed down the hall. 

“North corridor, hang a left, walk about twenty feet, then...” He trailed off at the way Yami's eyebrow was raising. Finral felt a vein in his forehead twitch.

“...right, I'm talking to the guy who once accidentally invaded Witch's Forest because he got lost...”

“Oi. I wanna sleep. Take me to my room already.”

Finral took a breath, and heaved himself off the wall. “Just follow me... geez, how is it I wind up taking you everywhere even when I'm out of mana?”

“You don't want to walk? Surpass your limits.”

“Do you just toss that out at random?”

Yami went 'tch,' rather than answer him; Finral took it as a yes. He rolled his eyes, but couldn't fight the feeling of amused warmth in his own chest. The rhythm between them was more familiar and older than the ever changing paths of the base. Even disoriented from the drain, Finral felt grounded.

There was a bit more back and forth on the way to Yami's room. Nothing important; just a comforting exercise in normalcy at the end of an evening. By the time they were in front of Yami's door, some of Finral's mana had even regenerated. Or at least he wasn't as dizzy. Still dead tired and thinking fondly of his own bed, though. Hanging out with Henry was not for the faint of heart.

As Finral started to walk away, though, Yami commented, “Make sure you're up early. I want you and Gordon with me at the exam.” Finral winced. _I forgot about that thing. Of course the time Henry feels up to playing cards is the night before something like that... oh well._ Despite the exhaustion, Finral didn't regret it.

Though he did complain to Yami, “You barely recruit from that thing. I'm surprised you bother.” Out of about a dozen squad members, only three had been recruited from the actual exam: Luck, Magna, and Finral himself. Not exactly a lucrative venture.

Yami chuckled. “The first year, Julius made me.” He glanced over his shoulder at Finral. His eyes were warm. A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Haven't regretted it yet.” Yami turned back towards his door, which was good for Finral's composure. The way the room was swaying slightly was probably the mana drain, but that didn't explain the sudden heaviness to his heartbeat.

Finral managed a reasonably calm goodnight, thankful that Yami certainly wasn't reading his ki right now. The instant Yami's door clicked shut, Finral stumbled in the direction of the marker for his own. He only got a few steps before he was forced to stop, unsteady balance threatening to send him sprawling. Finral leaned against the wall, breathing harder than the exertion merited.

He closed his eyes. _Stupid, stupid, stupid. What are you getting worked up for? Nothing._ Slowly, Finral took a long, deep breath. Let it out. Then he straightened and started walking to his room, still leaning on the wall a little. He put his thoughts in order, the same way he'd been doing for months.

In a world with no use for him beyond convenience, he’d long since decided to just coast instead of endlessly trying and failing. But Yami had given him a place here. Yami was his captain and his friend. That was real. A shallow, meaningless attraction... was nothing. Meant nothing.

Even Magna wouldn't make that gamble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we see that the chapter title refers to Finral's personal life rather than the card game...
> 
> Feedback encouraged!

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback encouraged!


End file.
